Tim Elliott could not wait for his fight with Louis Smolka to begin. The Lee’s Summit, Mo. native bounced up and down in his corner before the Saturday’s flyweight bout in Kansas City got started.

And not only did Elliott (14-7-1) do his part to give his hometown fans a show, but Smolka held up his end of the bargain, too. Elliott and Smolka went at it for a high-energy 15 minutes before Elliott emerged victorous.

Elliot was a house afire in the opening round, pushing a frenetic pace, landing knees, elbows and punches and taking it to the mat. Elliott work for submissions, but Smolka proved to be no pushover, initiating dazzling scramble sequences and keeping Elliott honest.

It was more of the same in the second round, with Elliott, who landed six of seven takedown attempts over the first two rounds, usually a step quicker than his opponent. But the Hawaiian again was up to the task. A late guillotine by Elliott was the closest either fighter came to finishing the bout.

Things relatively slowed in the third compared to the first two rounds, but it would be wrong to call the round slow. While the round was back and forth, Elliott still seemed to get the best of Smolka in most exchanges, and never let him get into position to steal the fight.

Elliott credited the energy of the crowd for helping him push a ridiculous pace.

“I was surprised how many people were at weigh-ins,” Elliott said. “I was surprised how loud it was in here. He’s good, he’s awamy, I knew he was going to be tough.”

With the win, Elliott, who returned to the UFC by winning TUF 24, has now won four of his past five fights, with his only defeat a competitive loss to champion Demetrious Johnson. Smolka (11-4) has lsot three in a row.